The Virtual Foundation - your donation makes it happen

Promoting Alternative Energy to Prevent Deforestation in Tajikistan

Region: Central Asia, Tajikistan
Author: Youth Creative Coalition of the Tajik Sciences
Consortium Member: ISAR Central Asia
Status: Funded and Ongoing Budget: $1760 Collected: $1760 Needs: $0
Result: To develop and demonstrate a biogas apparatus that will process organic waste materials and provide rural residents energy, thereby reducing deforestation.
Donors: Gift of John Deever and Lisa Swaim, to their Bridal Party on the occasion of their wedding, October 2001, Washington DC.
Bridal Party:
Amy Deever
Mark Dilley
Darcy Galane
Frank Gordish
Hans Gorsuch
Mara Matteson
Miriam Matteson
Helen Rowe
Jeff Scott
Hector Garcia Santana
Paul Swaim
Ewan Todd
David Tracy, and
Jeanne Work.

David and Sara Deever, Ohio [March 2002]
Comment: The Youth Creative Coalition of the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences are responding to conditions of disrupted gas and electricity caused by a civil war.

Need:
The Youth Creative Coalition of the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences consists of students and scientists interested in introducing alternative energy technology in Tajikistan. After several years of economic crisis due to civil war and regional political tension, many rural residents in Tajikistan are without gas or electricity. Without reliable sources of energy for heat and light, the forests surrounding rural areas have experienced rapid degradation, as the local population has cut trees to use for cooking and heating.

Goals:

  1. Develop and introduce a biogas apparatus that will, through anaerobic processing of organic materials, provide rural residents with a sustainable source of energy.
  2. Educate the public on the need to change energy consumption habits, in hopes of stemming deforestation.
Methods of Implementation:
  • Construct a biogas apparatus (technical information on the apparatus is available on request).
  • Install apparatus and monitor its operation over the course of two months.
  • Inform the general public of the results of the pilot project through the mass media and town meetings. Outcomes:
    1. Public awareness demonstration project that will introduce the production of biogas and manure from organic wastes in rural areas of Tajikistan.
    2. Lessening of deforestation in Tajikistan.
    Project Time Frame: November - February

    Budget

    Salaries $200
    Materials for the construction of biogas apparatus $1300
    Office supplies $100
    VF Administrative Cost $160
    Total $1760